[News] Christchurch Mosque Massacre: Feigning Indifference about Israel's Role as Architect of Islamophobia Is Unforgivable

Anti-Imperialist News news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Mar 18 11:51:22 EDT 2019


http://www.palestinechronicle.com/christchurch-mosque-massacre-feigning-indifference-about-israels-role-as-architect-of-islamophobia-is-unforgivable/ 



  Christchurch Mosque Massacre: Feigning Indifference about Israel's
  Role as Architect of Islamophobia Is Unforgivable

March 17, 2019 <http://www.palestinechronicle.com/2019/03/>

*By Iqbal Jassat <http://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/iqbal-jassat>*

Violent brutality often seen on cinema screens as well as TV and online 
broadcasts – a hallmark of Hollywood, always ends with a sigh of relief 
in the knowledge that fiction triumphed over reality. “Dead” actors wake 
up and walk, ready to “die” and walk again in sequel after sequel of 
blockbuster movies, enthralling millions of eager viewers demanding more 
of the same.

Whether films depict wars or drama and yes, entertainment too, blood 
curling violence, murder, rape and hate crimes appear to be intimately 
entrenched in the script. Though reviewers and critics do often question 
validity of gratuitous violence, it seems scriptwriters and producers 
are of the opinion that blood sells. And that the more bloodshed the 
more popular films will be to rake in huge profits.

Unfortunately for the victims and families of the 
#ChristchurchMosqueMassacres in New Zealand, the reality of being mowed 
down in cold blood was far removed from fiction. Though the killer 
resorted to filming his ghastly crime via real-time digital media as he 
calmly proceeded to pump bullets into the bodies of Muslim women, men 
and children, they will not walk again.

The orgy of death in the sacred precincts of mosques has shocked the 
world. That it was captured on video and has gone viral, depicting the 
utter ruthlessness of the killer splattering blood of innocent 
worshippers, has sparked fury.

Pressure on social media platforms to halt further broadcasts showing 
depravity of the perpetrator’s killing spree may be an idea to not 
reward him with his “scoop”, but the larger question remains unanswered: 
who are his scriptwriters?

    You are one of the chief global inciters of Islamophobia and an ally
    of white supremacists and Nazis. https://t.co/y9bhk89dq5

    — Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) March 15, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1106543120680976385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

There is no doubt in my mind that Ali Abunimah’s tweet correctly singles 
out Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu as a leading architect of 
antiMuslim hate campaigns as well as an ally of white supremacists and 
Nazis.

His active pursuit of Islamophobia, incitement of wars and execution of 
Palestinians is not an irregular occurrence. Netanyahu, as head of the 
Middle East’s sole colonial entity, has been in the forefront of global 
war efforts to target what he unashamedly defines as “Muslim extremism” 
and “Islamist terrorism”.

A vocabulary of racist invectives which he popularized and as is evident 
has been absorbed by US president Donald Trump along with his circle of 
rightwing white supremacist thugs such as Bolton and Pompeo.

To assume that the Christchurch massacre is an isolated case is to deny 
the existence of scriptwriters in Tel Aviv, Washington, London, Paris 
and many more capitals of the world. The results of the cancer of hate 
spread by them against Muslims is found in the debris of war-ravaged 
Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Kashmir and scores of 
unidentified rural villages dotting the Muslim world.

The names of these scriptwriters are known to the world, but regrettably 
not for the enormity of their illegal wars and crimes associated 
thereby, but as “statesmen”. Tony Blair, George Bush, Bill and Hillary 
Clinton, Barack Obama and the group of killers in Israel, are glorified 
as “leaders” on world stages, while their records of mass murders are 
either glossed over or justified as necessary under the false rubric of 
the “War on Terror”.

    As long as #Israel
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    the US and their allies can kill Arabs and Muslims with impunity,
    every racist with a gun feels justified in doing the same. The
    dominant influence and automatic legitimacy that Israel enjoys
    around the world has to stop.

    — Miko Peled, (@mikopeled) March 15, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/mikopeled/status/1106537368159436801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Miko Peled correctly links racist killings to the impunity whereby 
Israel and the US kill Arabs and Muslims. And insists that unless 
Israel’s “dominant influence” is halted, expect more 
#ChristchurchMosqueMassacres.

Displaying outrage and issuing statements of condemnation as Netanyahu, 
Trump and their fellow travelers have done, smacks of blatant hypocrisy 
and double standards. Their insincerity stinks and must be called out if 
the world is to rid itself of white supremacy.

    I’m not interested in hearing about Islamophobia from someone who
    deemed the mass murder of children in a Muslim-majority country
    “worth it.” https://t.co/U5w7VXrvTC https://t.co/6hTgzsgDuE

    — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 16, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1106716027478568960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Even while the International Criminal Court dithers by displaying 
impotence in regards to the prosecution of Netanyahu and his 
British/American counterparts, it behooves civil society, multinational 
corporations as well as independent governments to turn their collective 
backs on them.

Glorifying baby killers is not an option. And those who do so as has 
been the want of conglomerates to invite the likes of Blair and Obama is 
equivalent of extending a lifeline to white supremacists.

A social comment I read says that Islamophobia has been normalized and 
legitimized to such an extent that it’s commonplace for certain 
commentators to argue that it’s entirely natural and rational to dislike 
and be fearful of Muslims.

    The white commentariat who decried the withdrawal of US troops from
    Syria and call for a more active US role there, support its
    sanctions and coup in Venezuela, and who don't question US military
    bases and interventions in the rest of the world, are indulging
    their inner racist

    — Amal Saad (@amalsaad_lb) March 16, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/amalsaad_lb/status/1106859336356253702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Though Trump may be despised by the world and many folks in America, he 
remains entrenched as the Commander-In-Chief with his unsteady finger on 
the nuclear button. His malignant views of Islam and Muslims did not 
emerge out of the blue. Chaps like Steve Bannon who cherish and fuel 
hate and are acknowledged as rightwing bigots, exploited the fertile 
Islamophobic ground laid by Trump’s predecessors and an array of Israeli 
allied think tanks to gain access to power.

The intrinsic network of rightwingers including heads of governments and 
white commentariat as described by Lebanese academic Amal Saad, pose the 
most damning threat to global peace and security. Yet Israel’s recent 
threat analysis would want the world to believe that the Boycott, 
Divestment and Sanctions campaigners (BDS), are terrorists in suits, 
worthy of being jailed, tortured and killed.

The smear campaign against BDS is a replica of hate campaigns against 
resistance movements, Iran, Venezuela and of course Muslims.

To be shocked, outraged and saddened by the gory murders in New Zealand 
is understandable. But to feign indifference about the role of the 
US/British/Israeli axis of white supremacy is unforgivable.

/– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media 
Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. 
Visit: //www.mediareviewnet.com/ <http://www.mediareviewnet.com/>

-- 
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